Wales attack coach Matt Sherratt admitted that the lack of time in camp for some English-based players in Steve Tandy's extended summer squad counted against them as a handful missed out on selection for the Nations Championship. Having cut his 45-man squad down to 33 ahead of upcoming Tests against Fiji, Argentina and South Africa, several players plying their trade over the border narrowly missed out on a place in the final squad.
Injuries and Key Omissions
Former Wales captain Dafydd Jenkins missed out through injury, with the second-row needing surgery on a shoulder. While Rhys Carre, Tommy Reffell, Nicky Smith, Max Llewellyn, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tomos Williams and the uncapped Kane James all made the cut, five players will play no part for Wales next month. Olly Cracknell, Freddie Thomas, Jarrod Evans, Gabriel Hamer-Webb and the uncapped Bryn Bradley all missed out – with Bradley in particular a surprise given the chance to take a first look at the Harlequins centre.
Time Constraints a Key Factor
Following the announcement, Sherratt admitted that the fact English-based players joined up with Wales later than those based in Wales was a factor. "It was really tough actually and the players have been brilliant with it," said Sherratt. "Obviously some of the English-based players coming a little bit later, with the nature of having the Barbarians game, they only really had like a week - maybe three or four sessions - to show us what they had."
Sherratt emphasised the broader perspective: "So what we've tried to do is look more big picture, so it's not just about the now. It's not about just the next three weeks coming. It's about the autumn, Six Nations, and then, ultimately, 2027. So that was made pretty clear to the players in terms of not getting absolutely fixated on the next three weeks. We want to see you if we haven't seen you before, get you involved in the squad. It just makes the next time they come in a lot smoother. So some tough decisions, but a little bit tougher for the English-based players because obviously we hadn't seen enough of them really."
Bryn Bradley's Profile
While the other English-based players are known quantities to the Welsh coaches, Bradley had been called up for the first time by the senior side. However, his time in camp will have amounted to, at most, a handful of days. While he would appear to be a more physical inside centre than other options in Tandy's squad, Sherratt denied that he offered a different profile to the likes of ball-playing centre Joe Hawkins and Ben Thomas.
"Not majorly, he's obviously a bit bigger in stature, but he's actually got really good soft skills," added Sherratt. "If you watch him for Quins, he can link, he put some kicks on edges, in one of his last games there was a nice left-handed pass over the top to someone, so he is a little bit of an all-rounder. But it was really just he deserves a call up, he played really well for Quins. We'd obviously spoken to some of their coaching staff and he'd come into one of the alignment camps as well. So it was a good opportunity to have a look at him. So, as I said, it's more the big picture with some of the boys as well."
